Now, information technology (herein after IT) problems can be solved on the basis of information about the phenomenon (symptom) of a problem and the like.
In such a problem solving process, if there are multiple coping method work candidates, it is difficult to determine which work candidate to begin with, that is, the priority order of the options. For example, it is required to select which candidate to try first between coping method work candidates, such as “reboot” and “restore from backup”. However, the prioritization of options is performed on the basis of the experience of a maintenance/administration person (hereinafter simply referred to as an administrator) of an IT system, and determination on which selection is optimal depends on the administrator's experience and skill.
Disclosure as below is shown in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-076071. This system is provided with a case aligning means 20 for hierarchically classifying past cases through a case preparing part, editing part, classification preparing part and editing part and adding attributes such as explanation descriptions to respective classifications. A question display part is provided for inputting the declaration contents of a user, retrieving these contents from a case data base through a retrieval part, collating them with the respective classification attributes and cases, finding the similarity of respective classifications and cases, and displaying information for questioning which classification the case declared by the user belongs to from a question display, based on the similarity for the user. Cases are specified by successively applying the display of questions to the slave classifications of the classification answered by the user.